senior/senior citizen

although not universally liked, these terms might be around for a while. The best alternatives: older adult/person. Or, use the person's age or age group ("those over 65," "patients aged 75-90"). References to age are often irrelevant or used in nonparallel ways (we see "elderly man catches burglar" but not "middle-aged man wins cooking contest" and "robs elderly woman" but not "robs young woman"). Avoid euphemisms like "Golden Agers" or the term "retirees" when not all the group are retired, and probably not idle either. The "citizen" in senior citizen at least acknowledges that age is not the only relevant characteristic of people over 65, although the National Gray Panthers, the American Association of Retired Persons, and the National Retired Teachers Association all prefer "older person/people/American" to "senior citizen." See also ageism, old, old lady/old man, oldster, old-timer.